1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dispenser and particularly, to a control system and a method of a media dispenser capable of driving a whole system using a driving source and recollecting abnormal media in the whole period of the media feeding path.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a conventional media dispenser.
A conventional media dispenser includes a media cassette 202 in which media are stored, a feeding module 204 to which the media stored in the media cassette 202 is fed, a sensing unit 206 sensing whether two or more sheets of media are fed together by sensing the thickness of the media fed through the feeding module 204, a delivery module 208 for transmitting the media passed through the thickness sensing unit 206 to a user and a reject box 210 for recollecting media when two or more sheets of media are fed together in the thickness sensing unit 206.
In the media cassette 202, a media separating part 212 for separating media into each sheet to transmit the stored media into the feeding module 204 is respectively provided.
Here, the media separating part 212 is connected to the first driving motor 214 installed at one side of the feeding module 204 and is operated by receiving driving force of the first driving motor 214.
The feeding module 204 feeds the media transmitted from the media cassette 202 to the thickness sensing unit 206 and is composed of a plurality of pulleys 216, belts 218 and a plurality of rollers 220.
The thickness sensing unit 206 detects whether two or more sheets of media are fed together by sensing the thickness of the media fed through the feeding module 204.
The delivery module 208 has a discharging part 222 to supply the media passed through the thickness sensing unit 206 to the user and it recollects the media in case two or more sheets of abnormal media are fed together and feeds the media to the reject box 210 via a specific process. Such delivery module 208 includes a plurality of pulleys 226, belts 224 and a plurality of rollers 228.
The pulleys and belts of the feeding module 204 and delivery module 208 are driven by the second driving motor 230 installed at one side of the delivery module 208. Namely, the second driving motor 230 is connected with a driving pulley 232 and the driving pulley 232 is connected to the driven pulley 236 and belt 234. The driven pulley 236 is connected to each pulley by the belt and transmits the driving force.
In the conventional media dispenser, the media stored in the media cassette 202 are separated to sheet by sheet by the media separating part 212 and transmitted to the feeding module 204 if the first driving motor 214 is driven. If the second driving motor 230 is driven, the feeding module 204 and the delivery module 208 are driven. Then the media transmitted to the feeding module 204 are fed to the thickness sensing unit 206 by the plurality of pulleys and belts and transmitted to the delivery module 208 after the thickness sensing unit 206 senses whether two or more sheets of media are passed together.
The media fed to the delivery module 208 are fed to the discharging part 222 capable of providing the media to the user by the plurality of rollers and belts and abnormal media or media in case two or more sheets of media are transmitted are recollected to the reject box 210.
However, since the conventional media dispenser is capable of positioning only one media cassette and dispense only predetermined kind of media, additional media dispensers need to be purchased to dispense another kinds of media.
Namely, since sizes of currencies in respective countries are different in case currency is used as the media, the media can not be used in another countries thus to limit the usefulness.
Also, the media can not be recollected in case a power supply is interrupted in use or the media are blocked by erroneous operation in the media feeding path. Accordingly, the system must be reassembled after taking apart the system and taking away the media thus to cause inconvenience and lengthen the operation time.
Also, since the first driving motor for driving the media separation part and the second driving motor for driving the feeding module and the delivery module to separate the media from the media cassette are needed, there was a problem of increasing the manufacturing cost due to using a plurality of motors of relatively high cost.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a control system and a method of a media dispenser capable of reducing cost and simplifying structure by driving a whole system using a driving means.
Another object is to provide a media dispenser capable of treating various kinds of media by installing various kinds of media selectively thus to broaden the usefulness.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a control system of a media dispenser comprising a driving motor installed at one side of the base plate in which a media cassette is positioned, for generating driving force, a clutch installed at one side of a media pickup part which discharges media stored in the media cassette and connected to the driving motor, for selectively transmitting the driving force generated in the driving motor to the media pickup part and a clutch controlling means for controlling operation of the clutch by turning on/off a power source applied to the clutch to consequently discharge the media from the media cassette.
The clutch is formed using the solenoid method which transmits or cuts off the power to or from the media pickup part according to the on/off of the power source.
The clutch controlling means includes a feed sensor installed at one side of the media feeding part to which the media discharged from the media pickup part are fed, for sensing passage of the media, an eject sensor installed at one side of a media discharging part from which the media fed through the media feeding part are discharged to outside, for sensing the media discharged to the media discharging part and a controlling part for turning off the clutch according to electric signals applied from the feed sensor and turning on the clutch according to signals applied from the eject sensor.
The feed sensor includes a light-emitting part installed at a certain position in the media feeding part, for irradiating light and a light-receiving part positioned at a certain interval with the light-emitting part, for sensing light irradiated from the light-emitting part and transmitting the electric signal to the controlling part and counts the number of media being fed and generates clutch-off signals.
The eject sensor includes a light-emitting part installed at one side of the passage in which the media of the media discharging part, for irradiating light and a light-receiving part positioned at a certain interval with the light-emitting part, for sensing light irradiated from the light-emitting part, counts the number of media being discharged through the media discharging part to outside and generates clutch-on signals.
The control method of the media dispenser includes a first step of discharging the media stored in the media cassette by the operation of the media pickup part after the driving motor is driven and the clutch is turned on by applying a power from a power supply unit, a second step of determining whether the media discharged from the media cassette is reached to the first point which is a certain position of the media feeding part while the media are fed though the media feeding part, a third step of cutting-off a driving force transmitted to the media feeding part by turning off the clutch if it is judged that the media reach to the first point, a fourth step of judging whether the media passed through the first point reach to the second point of the media feeding part while the media are fed through the media feeding part and a fifth step of repeating the media discharging process and transmitting the driving force to the media pickup part by turning on the clutch if it is judged that the media reach to the second point.
The first point is a position where the fed media are sensed by the feed sensor of the media feeding part.
The second point is a position where the discharged media are sensed by the eject sensor of the media discharging part.
The control system includes the driving motor positioned at one side of the base plate in which the media cassette is positioned, for generating a driving force, the clutch installed at one side of the media pickup part for discharging media stored in the media cassette and connected to the driving motor, for selectively transmitting the driving force generated by the driving motor to the media pickup part, a sub media cassette unit installed at the lower side of the base plate as a plural number by selection of the user, for accommodating the sub media cassette containing different kinds of media from those stored in the media cassette, a displaying part installed at one side of the base plate, for allowing the user to select preferable media and the controlling part for discharging the selected media by turning on/off the clutch selected either of said clutch or the sub clutch installed in the sub media cassette unit according to signals of the displaying part.
The sub media cassette unit includes a case installed at the lower side of the base plate, for receiving therein a sub media cassette, an upper pulley connected to the base plate, for receiving a power from the driving motor, a sub lower pulley connected to the upper pulley by a timing belt, a sub media pickup part connected with the sub lower pulley, for transmitting the media stored in the sub media cassette by receiving rotational force and a sub media feeding part for transmitting the media transmitted from the sub media pickup part to the media feeding part by guiding the media to the upper direction.
The control system includes the reject box positioned at the front side of the base plate in which the driving motor is positioned, for storing abnormal media, the diverter installed at one side of the media feeding path, for recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box and a media rejection controlling means for recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box by operating the diverter, when abnormal media are generated in the feeding process or two or more sheets of media are fed together.
The diverter is installed between the media feeding part in which media are fed and the media discharging part in which the media are discharged rotatably and has a solenoid for operating the diverter according to electric signals of the media rejection controlling means.
The rejection controlling means includes a feed sensor installed at one side of the media feeding part, for sensing media, a thickness sensor installed at the upper side of the feed sensor, for sensing the thickness of the media, a slit sensor installed at one side of the media feeding part, for detecting feeding speed of the media, an eject sensor installed in the media discharging part, for sensing the discharged media, a reject sensor installed at one side of the reject box, for sensing the recollected media and a controlling part for turning on/off the driving motor and the solenoid according to signals of the respective sensors.
The slit sensor includes a rotating plate installed at one side of the media feeding part and rotated at the same feeding speed as that of the media feeding part and having a plurality of slits in the circumferential direction and a slit detection part positioned at one side of the rotating plate, for applying electric signals to the controlling part by detecting the number of the slits according to the rotation of the rotating plate.
The reject sensor includes a light-receiving part and a light-emitting part which are installed at one side of the passage where the media are recollected to the reject box.
The control method includes a first step of rotating the driving motor as much as a certain width in the regular or reverse direction if the power source of the media dispenser is turned on, sensing whether abnormal media exist in the media feeding path and recollecting the abnormal media if it is judged that abnormal media exist, a second step of performing media discharging operation by operating the driving motor normally when the recollecting operation of the abnormal media is completed or there is no abnormal media in the first and second periods, a third step of judging whether two or more sheets of media are fed together in the third step and a fourth step of recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box by operating the diverter when it is judged that two or more sheets of media are fed together in the third step.
The first step includes a step of judging whether abnormal media exist in the second period by reversely rotating the driving motor as much as the certain rotation number, a step of rotating the driving motor regularly and recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box by operating the diverter after moving the abnormal media to the front of the diverter by reversely rotating the driving motor as much as the certain rotation number if it is judged that the abnormal media exist in the second period, a step of judging whether the abnormal media exist in the first period by regularly rotating the driving motor as much as the certain rotation number if the recollection of the abnormal media is completed, a step of regularly rotating the driving motor and recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box by operating the diverter when it is judged that the abnormal media exist in the first period, a step of repeatedly judging whether the abnormal media exist in the first and second periods by increasing the rotation number of the driving motor step by step when the recollection of the abnormal media is completed and a step of recollecting the abnormal media to the reject box by driving the driving motor and the diverter if it is judged that the abnormal media exist.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.